My thanks, and commiserations, to a loyal reader who has had a devil of a time trying to prove his identity.
What was he trying to do?
Fly to Syria?
No!
Obtain a passport?
No!
He was trying to buy a house!
Read on:
"Ken,Comments are welcome, it seems daft to me!
I wonder if you can advise on something or at least let your readers know of the stupidity of the current rules on this situation?
As a person who never travels out of the UK and who doesn't drive I have a Provisional Photocard Driving License primarily as a method of proving my age and ID when appropriately challenged.
You can imagine my surprise when I attempt to purchase a property then that they tell me this isn't acceptable ID for my solicitors to do Money Laundering Checks on me to prove I am who I say I am!
I then offered my birth certificate up to my marriage certificate to prove my current identity. They wouldn't accept that either!
I was then told to go away and get a passport or a FULL driving license in order to be able to purchase property in this country.
This has occurred with 2 separate solicitors. Luckily I have now found a local one who is happy to accept my Provisional License Photocard as ID and I should now be able to purchase a property!
It seems the government have tightened Money Laundering Regulations so far and made solicitors so scared that *they* will be held at fault and face potential jail for a fraudulent transaction that many solicitors are willing to refuse clients over something as silly as whether they have passed a driving test or not!
Let alone for someone who doesn't drive, doesn't have a provisional and only has "paper" documents with no photo who'd be even worse off....
For reference I phoned the Money Laundering reporting line (the only number I could find for the 'area' of conduct) and was told they couldn't advise me. I phoned DVLA who say that neither full or provisional licenses are actually valid to use as ID technically but there is no distinction in the controls over the two so if they accept one they should accept the other. I also phoned the SRA who advised me they know of no such issue with Provisional licenses, or of any guidance issued not to accept them for Money Laundering checks!
If you don't drive or travel abroad be prepared to be marginalised more and more in this country!
Which is mad considering the government want people not to drive or travel so much in the first place!"
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Dear Mr Frost
ReplyDeleteMoney laundering rules are a bit rich coming from the largest money laundering organisation in the country - the government. It habitually launders money from the public's pockets into the pockets of those who work for the government, including those who invent the money laundering rules.
Isn't it time we stopped letting them do this to us?
DP
I do not drive, have never done so, and haven't been outside the country since 1958, so am in the same situation. A couple of months ago my railcard needed renewing and as there was a special offer on, if renewing by internet, decided to go for it. However, they required id and, surprise surprise, only accepted a full driving license or a passport, and, of course, I had neither. I was forced to ring a helpline who, I am pleased to say, sorted it out. It transpired that, as I was renewing, not purchasing a new one, I didn't need id, other than my old card. My guess is that your reader had the misfortune, whilst attempting to buy a house, to encounter a pair of right jobsworths, typical Nanny employees. Years ago, one never needed id for a lot of things you do today. Welcome to the "paradise" we were warned about by George Orwell, in 1984!
ReplyDeleteHalifax BS wanted to know the reason my dad wanted to withdraw a wedge of his cash from his account.
ReplyDeleteAdvised they wouldn't return his money unless he gave a reason, he wrote that he wanted to hire a prostitute to indulge his wildest sexual fantasies, and demanded a second sheet of paper to list in detail, what those 'fantasies' were.
He then demanded the cashier check his spelling, 'because he didn't want to make an erroneous statement on a formal Halifax document'.